Housing agency boss has 'no concerns' over potential conflicts of interest at An Bord Pleanála
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The head of the agency responsible for developing housing on State-owned lands said he had “no concerns” regarding potential conflicts of interest among decision makers at An Bord Pleanála.
John Coleman, chief executive of the Land Development Agency (LDA), said he had “no issues in that respect” after it emerged a member of An Bord Pleanála’s board had failed to declare part-ownership of a property in Cork City.
“There are good processes in place regarding the declaration of interests,” he said. “There are no concerns that we would be aware of with regard to that process.”
Earlier this week, An Bord Pleanála told the it had “nothing further to add” regarding the fact its deputy chair Paul Hyde failed to declare ownership of a site in Cork City next to a refused strategic housing development, an application on which Mr Hyde voted.
Mr Coleman, who was giving an update regarding the LDA’s progress in carrying out its objectives under the State’s Housing For All plan, launched last September, said thus far his agency’s performance has been “in line with expectations”.
As part of the update, the LDA has revealed details of four affordable housing developments for which it has sought planning permission from An Bord Pleanála.
Mr Coleman said the four planning applications lodged with An Bord Pleanála in recent weeks would deliver 2,358 homes in schemes which will consist of 100% affordable purchase and cost rental housing.
Those four schemes are at Dundrum, Balbriggan, and Skerries in Dublin, and Naas in Kildare. The largest of the four is an application for 977 new homes at the site of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum in south Dublin.
Meanwhile, construction is set to begin on more than 850 social and affordable homes later this year — 265 of them at the former St Kevin’s Hospital in Cork and the remainder at Shanganagh in south Dublin, the latter of which will be “the State’s largest affordable housing scheme to date” according to the LDA.
In terms of cost rental, Mr Coleman said the rent sought for an average two-bed property would be roughly €1,300 per month, “a 25% discount on the market”. He said cost rental was a format which the LDA hopes would “encourage community building”.
He acknowledged the lower height of some of the planned developments, such as that in Dundrum, which has reduced from an initial 14 storeys to just seven, “has seen less homes being made available”.
Mr Coleman said the effects of rampant construction inflation and the war in Ukraine on the LDA’s plans, mean that “price certainty... is going to be a lot more difficult to achieve”.
“There is a huge need for building in Ireland at the moment. We should be focused on solutions,” he said.
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